In certain types of image forming apparatus, such as printers, media sheets are directed through a print cycle, which includes picking up a media sheet from an input tray, feeding the sheet through the print zone, and ejecting it onto an output tray. It is generally desirable to support the ejected media sheet momentarily to allow the sheet to dry before it falls onto the output tray where previously ejected sheets form an output stack. This momentary delay is especially useful in inkjet printers, which eject wet ink to form images. A variety of sheet supporting systems have been used to accomplish this momentary delay in stacking media sheets.
One such system embodies a passive drop scheme, wherein the printed sheet is temporarily suspended by guide rails or wings above the output tray before the sheet falls onto the output tray on its own weight. Another known system involves the use of an active drop mechanism, wherein the printed sheet is guided along a pair of movable wings that temporarily support the printed sheet above the output tray. When printing is completed, the wings retract, allowing the sheet to fall into the output tray. These conventional sheet supporting systems require a separate actuator or separate control mechanisms, which add bulkiness to the printers, and also require relatively complicated synchronization between movements of the sheet supporting parts and other parts of the sheet output system. As a consequence, the production cost of the printers would have to be increased if these sheet supporting systems are to be implemented.
There exists a need for a media output system with a sheet supporting mechanism that does not require a complicated control system to operate and can be implemented at a relatively low cost.